KR20160101075A - Handover in software defined networking - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to devices, methods, computer programs, computer program products, and computer readable media for use in handover in software defined networking, e.g., for the source eNB and the X2 and / or S1-MME handover at the target eNB Media. The method includes the steps of: requesting by a first entity of a first plane a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of a first plane, And forwarding the parameters to the second entity of the first plane by the first entity of the first plane.

Description

[0001] HANDOVER IN SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING [

The present invention relates to devices, methods, computer programs, computer program products and computer readable media usable for handover in software defined networking.

Mobile data transmission and data services continue to advance, where these services provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and the like. Recently, Long Term Evolution (LTE ^TM ) has been defined, which uses Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) as the radio communication architecture in accordance with 3GPP specifications.

Moreover, network virtualization is used in recent technologies, which divide conventional networks into subsets to be used and operated and managed by different organizations that are systematically independent. The use of network virtualization provides flexibility in the development of future network architectures.

The technical field according to the present invention is, for example, a software defined networking (SDN) for use in mobile telecommunication networks (https://www.opennetworking.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid = 145 & lang = en ONF at en). Within the study of software defined networks (SDN), the separation of the control plane and the user plane is discussed.

That is, at SND, a system (control plane) that makes a decision as to where traffic is to be transmitted is decoupled from base systems (data planes) that forward traffic to the selected destination.

Today, eNB is an integrated monolithic entity that provides services to 3GPP user equipment and mediates between UE and Evolved Packet Core (EPC). To provide the service, the eNB generally supports the control portion and the user portion. The user part of the eNB (eNB-U: eNB of the user plane) typically forwards the payload from / to the EPC towards the user equipment and from the user equipment. The control portion of the eNB (eNB-C, eNB of the control plane) generally covers the portion that allows exchange of signaling, allowing the UE and the EPC to request and grant specific services. In the case of handover, there is a source eNB and a target eNB that are involved, where the source eNB is the eNB that the UE leaves and the target eNB is the eNB that accepts the UE.

In the vertical control plane, communication protocols such as OpenFlow, Forwarding and Control Element Separation Protocol (FOrCES), etc. are used to control the respective entities.

In the case of an open flow, for example, a so-called application resides at the top of the open flow controller (indicated by OFC + and OFC + to indicate that the controller is augmented with additional functionality).

In the 3GPP specification, intra E-UTRAN access mobility and S1 based handover (HO) are defined in TS 36.300 and TS 23.401. However, at present, 3GPP standards do not cover solutions in the SDN environment.

1 shows an example of signaling in the case of intra E-UTRAN handover of user equipment (UE) of the control plane, as shown in TS 36.300. A brief description of the steps shown in Figure 1 is provided below. For further details, reference is made to the description of TS 36.300.

In step 1, the source eNB (this bulb node B) configures the UE measurement procedures in accordance with the roaming and access restriction information.

In step 2, a measurement report is triggered and sent to the eNB.

In step 3, the source eNB makes a decision based on measurement report and Radio Resource Management (RRM) information to handoff the UE.

In step 4, the source eNB issues a handover request message to the target eNB, conveying the necessary information to prepare the HO in the target.

In step 5, admission control may be performed by the target eNB.

In step 6, the target eNB prepares HO with L1 / L2 and sends a handover request acknowledgment to the source eNB.

In step 7, the source eNB sends an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message to the UE, which includes an RRC message, i.e., mobilityControlInformation.

In step 8, to convey the downlink PDCP SN transmitter state and the uplink PDCP SN (Packet Data Convergence Protocol Sequence Number) receiver state of the E-RABs (E-RABs) to which the PDCP state retention is applied, The eNB sends an SN state delivery message to the target eNB.

After step 8, data forwarding is performed from the source eNB towards the target eNB.

In step 9, after receiving the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the mobilityControlInformation, the UE performs synchronization with the target eNB and accesses the target cell via a RACH (Random Access Channel).

In step 10, the target eNB responds with UL assignment and timing advance.

In step 11, when the UE successfully accesses the target cell, the UE transmits an RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message (C-RNTI, Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity) to the target eNB To indicate that the handover procedure for the UE is completed.

In step 12, the target eNB sends a Path Switch Request message to the MME (Mobility Management Entity) to notify that the UE has changed the cell.

In step 13, the MME sends a change bearer request message to the serving gateway (SGW).

In step 14, the serving gateway switches the downlink data path to the target side. The serving gateway may send one or more "end marker" packets on the old path to the source eNB and then release any U-plane / TNL (Transport Network Layer) resources towards the source eNB.

In step 15, the serving gateway sends a modified bearer response message to the MME.

In step 16, the MME acknowledges the path switch request message with a path switch request acknowledgment message.

In step 17, by sending a UE context release message, the target eNB notifies the source eNB of the success of the HO and triggers the release of resources by the source eNB. After the path switch request acknowledgment message is received from the MME, the target eNB sends this message.

At step 18, upon receipt of the UE context release message, the source eNB may release the radio and C-plane related resources associated with the UE context. Any ongoing data forwarding may continue.

According to FIG. 1, after receipt of at least a handover request ack, the source eNB forwards the user plane data and SN state delivery to the target eNB (see steps 6 and 8 of FIG. 1).

Further, according to Fig. 1, at least after the reception of the SN status transfer and the RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message, the target eNB forwards the user plane data to the UE and the SGW (see step 8 and / or 9 to 11 in Fig. 1).

However, in the SND environment, the Open Flow protocol and / or the Forces protocol can not support these features today.

That is, with respect to the source eNB, in the SDN / open forwards / Forces environment, the source eNB controller (or any other Radio Access Network (RAN) controller) can determine the DL count value and UL count value available in the eNB- Can not be currently transmitted to the target eNB-C.

Also, with respect to the target eNB, in the SDN / open forwards / Forces environment, the target eNB controller (or any other RAN controller) currently transmits the DL count value and the UL count value available in the eNB-C to the target eNB-U I can not.

The DL and UL counts are required at the target eNB-U for accurate synchronization of the packets.

Also, according to the current OpenFree (OF) standard, only three messages (i.e., packet IN, removed flow, port state) that can be sent to the OF controller but do not meet the requirement for handover by definition It is noted that there exist.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the present description, the following description is considered:

IP packets from the eNB to the UE are transmitted through the PDCP protocol and IP packets from the eNB to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) are transmitted through the GPRS Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) protocol;

- PDCP PDU (Packet Data Unit) number carried over GTP-U (transmitting SN) is defined in Section 5.2.2.2 of TS 29281;

- the PDCP SN of the protocol of the PDCP is defined in clause 6.2.4 of TS 36323;

- The (UL and DL) count values transmitted over the SN state transmission on the X2 interface are defined in clauses 9.1.1.4 and 9.2.15 of TS 36423;

- The (UL and DL) count values carried over the MME / eNB status transmission on the S1 interface are defined in TS 36413.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned problems and to provide a method and apparatus for handover in software defined networking, e.g., devices, methods, computer programs, It is an object of the present invention to provide computer program products and computer readable media.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method is provided,

Requesting by a first entity of a first plane a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of a first plane;

Receiving, at a first entity of the first plane, a reported parameter; And

Forwarding the parameter to the second entity of the first plane by the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided,

Receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And

And forwarding the parameter to the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided,

Receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message including a parameter;

Retrieving a parameter from the received message; And

And forwarding the retrieved parameter to a second entity of the second plane.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided,

Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And

And storing the parameter.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

At least one processor; And

At least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,

The at least one memory and instructions, via the at least one processor,

Requesting, at a first entity of a first plane, a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of a first plane;

At the first entity of the first plane, receiving the reported parameters; And

And to forward the parameter to the second entity of the first plane by the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

At least one processor; And

At least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,

The at least one memory and instructions, via the at least one processor,

Receiving, at the first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And

Parameter to the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

At least one processor; And

At least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,

The at least one memory and instructions, via the at least one processor,

Receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message comprising a parameter;

Retrieve the parameters from the received message; And

And to forward the retrieved parameter to the second entity of the second plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

At least one processor; And

At least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,

The at least one memory and instructions, via the at least one processor,

Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And

Parameters to be stored.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

Means for requesting, at a first entity of a first plane, a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of a first plane;

Means for receiving, at a first entity of the first plane, a reported parameter; And

And means for forwarding the parameter to the second entity of the first plane by the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

Means for receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And

And means for forwarding the parameter to the first entity of the first plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

Means for receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message comprising a parameter;

Means for retrieving a parameter from a received message; And

And means for forwarding the retrieved parameter to a second entity of the second plane.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus,

Means for receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And

And means for storing the parameters.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product comprising code means adapted to be loaded into a memory of a computer and adapted to generate steps of any of the methods as described above.

According to yet a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product as defined above, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable medium in which software code portions are stored.

According to yet a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product as defined above, wherein the program is directly loadable into the internal memory of the processing device.

Additional aspects and features in accordance with exemplary versions of the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

These and other objects, features, details, and advantages will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments / embodiments of the invention to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
1 is a signaling diagram illustrating an example of signaling in the case of an intra E-UTRAN handover of a user equipment in the control plane.
2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary scenario to which certain embodiments of the invention may be applied.
3 is a diagram illustrating an example of packet flow on the downlink prior to handover.
4 is a diagram showing an example of the packet flow in the uplink before the handover.
5 is a diagram illustrating an example of packet flow in the uplink during handover in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating an example of packet flow on the downlink during handover in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.
7 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.
Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating another example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.
9 is a flow chart illustrating an example of an apparatus according to exemplary versions of the present invention.
10 is a flow chart illustrating another example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.
11 is a flow chart illustrating another example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.
12 is a flow chart illustrating another example of an apparatus according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

Exemplary aspects of the invention will be described herein below. More particularly, exemplary aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to specific non-limiting examples and presently contemplated embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to these examples in any way, and may be applied more broadly.

It will be appreciated that the following description of the present invention and its embodiments will primarily refer to specifications used as non-limiting examples for specific exemplary network configurations and deployments. That is, the present invention and its embodiments are described primarily in connection with 3GPP specifications that are used as non-limiting examples for specific exemplary network configurations and deployments. Accordingly, the description of exemplary embodiments given herein specifically refers to terms that are directly related to these embodiments. These terms are used only in the context of the presented non-limiting examples and, of course, do not limit the invention in any way. Rather, any other network configuration or system deployment, etc. may also be used as long as they are compatible with the features described herein.

In the following, various embodiments and implementations of the invention and aspects or embodiments thereof are described using several alternatives. It will be appreciated that, depending on the particular needs and constraints, all of the alternatives described may be provided alone or in combination of any conceivable combination (including combinations of individual features of the various claims).

As already described above, the present invention generally relates to software defined networking (SDN) for use, for example, in mobile telecommunication networks.

Embodiments of the present invention address the issue of how to implement an eNB handover in an SDN / open-flow environment. In the following, both the source eNB and the target eNB will be described.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary scenario to which embodiments of the present invention may be applied.

Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the illustrated exemplary scenario and any suitable number of UEs, eNBs, APs (access points), base stations and any appropriate connections between them can be considered It should also be noted.

According to Fig. 2, the source eNB-C 61 of the control plane and the source eNB-U 63 of the user plane are provided. Also, a target eNB-C 64 of the control plane and a target eNB-U 66 of the user plane are provided. Between the individual eNB-Cs 61 and 64 and the individual eNB-Us 63 and 66, separate open flow controllers (OFC +) 62 and 65 with additional functions are provided. The source eNB-C 61 and the target eNB-C 64 are connected via the X2-C interface. The source eNB-C 63 and the target eNB-C 66 are connected via the X2-U interface. A user equipment (UE) 67 connected to eNB-Us 63 and 66 via separate LTE-Uu interfaces is also provided. In addition, the UE may be connected to the eNB-Cs 61 and 64 of the control plane via an LTE-Uu RRC interface not shown in FIG.

sauce eNB

First, the behavior at the source eNB will be described in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, an " eNB status delivery "and / or an" MME status delivery "(e.g., see 9.2.1.31 of 3GPP TS 36.413) At least, so-called UL count and DL count values are first requested by the eNB-C / OFC +, for example as an open flow or Forces, as defined in the "eNB Status Transparent Transparent Container & It is proposed that when the data forwarding to the target eNB is started or is about to be started, the separate user plane of the source eNB is allowed to report the UL and DL count values to the source eNB control plane application.

In general, the same applies to an X2 based message called "SN state delivery" which is transmitted from the source eNB to the target eNB (as defined in TS 36 423).

2, the eNB-C transmits UL and DL packets sourced from / UE scheduled to the UE to the eNB-U through OFC + in an OpenFlow Mod_Flow message through reception of a handover request ACK in the eNB-C Switching / redirection so that they are forwarded to the target eNB.

Moreover, when the transmitter / receiver state is at a standstill, i. E. When the transmitter / receiver stops (or stops) allocating PDCP SNs to the packet SDUs (service data units) When the delivery is interrupted (or aborted), the eNB-C requests the eNB-U to report the UL / DL count values to the eNB-C.

(Either through a new proprietary open flow message reporting the count values or via an artificial open flow "packet" message that is particularly triggered by the redirection of these individual packets (and subsequent packets) When a corresponding report is received at the eNB-C, the count values are inserted into the X2 SN state delivery message and sent to the target eNB-C.

This important use case is support for intra E-UTRAN handover, but the same solution can also be applied to S1 based handover well.

The same principles can generally be applied to future RAN elements such as LTE-A and 5G, as well as any other RAN elements such as those already known in the past, such as BTS.

Alternatively, according to certain embodiments of the present invention, the source eNB-C may request to transmit only the first packet or all packets from the user plane to the control plane via some artificial "packet" message. In this case, the open flow controller can direct the coordinated packets toward a new destination by itself.

It is recognized that this may require that the open flow protocol needs to be changed so that the PDCP can be matched.

However, this alternative solution will affect the open flow control channel and open flow controller and control plane.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

3 shows an example of the packet flow of the downlink in the user plane before handover.

As shown in FIG. 3, prior to handover, the source eNB is forwarding PDCP packets only to the UE via the LTE-Uu interface.

4 shows an example of the packet flow of the uplink in the user plane before handover.

As shown in FIG. 4, prior to handover, the source eNB is forwarding GTP packets only to the SGW.

Upon receipt (or at least after receipt) of a handover request ACK at the source eNB, a handover is initiated at the source eNB, as described above.

5 shows an example of the packet flow of the uplink during handover.

[Uplink]

As shown in Fig. 2 described above, by inserting a new flag "uplink switching to target eNB" into the open flow message " AddFlow "or" ModFlow ", the source eNB- Likewise, by instructing the source eNB-U of the user plane via OFC +, it is possible to switch GTP-U packets to forwarding GTP-U packets to the target eNB from directly sending GTP-U packets to the SGW.

This requires the S eNB-U to:

a)  It is possible to simultaneously transmit uplink GTP-U packets for a specific time period to the target eNB and the SGW directly via the S1-U interface, while allocating the PDCP SNs and inserting them into the GTP-U extension "PDCP PDU number & start,

b) Then, it stops sending the uplink packets directly to the SGW (after a period of time t), and simultaneously allocates the PDCP SNs and inserts them into the GTP-U extension "PDCP PDU number" for the target eNB Interruption, and

c) For example, if an artificial open flow message "packet" (but not assigned a buffer and buffer ID in the switch) has not been transmitted over the S1-U interface and the PDCP SNs ENB-C to the OFC / eNB-C.

Therefore, in this case, the source eNB-U reports the SN number to the OFC / eNB-C. The OFC / eNB-C then inserts this into the "SN state transfer" or "eNB state transfer", which is transmitted (possibly through the MME) to the target eNB-C.

6 shows an example of packet flow on the downlink during handover.

[Downlink]

By inserting the new flag "downlink switching to the target eNB" as an open flow message " AddFlow "or" ModFlow ", the source eNB-C instructs the source eNB-U via OFC + Directing the PDCP packets to the target eNB for switching.

This requires the S eNB-U to:

a)  Initiating transmission of PDCP packets simultaneously over the LTE-Ue interface directly to the target eNB and UE for a specified time period, while allocating PDCP SNs and inserting them into the GTP-U extension "PDCP PDU number &

b) Then stop sending the downlink packets directly to the UE, and at the same time stop allocating PDCP SNs and inserting them into the GTP-U extended "PDCP PDU number "; and

c) For example, if an artificial open flow message "packet" (but not assigned a buffer and buffer ID in the switch) has not been transmitted over the LTE-Uu interface and the GTP-U extension "PDCP PDU number & ENB-C to the OFC / eNB-C.

Therefore, in this case, the source eNB-U reports the SN number to the OFC / eNB-C. Thus, the OFC / eNB-C inserts this as "SN state delivery" or "eNB state delivery ", which is transmitted to the target eNB (possibly through the MME).

According to certain embodiments of the present invention, the following new open-flow operations and matches in the S-eNB are proposed.

As a new operation, it is proposed to push a PDCP PDU with SN in the source eNB-U (for UL and DL) to GTP-U (with length and content).

As a new match field it is proposed to report / notify the SN to the controller via, for example, an artificial open flow "packet" (but without assigning a buffer and buffer ID in the switch) For example, the source eNB-U reports the SN to the eNB-C / open flow controller which is no longer the UE or SGW, but forwards the packets to the target eNB.

Alternatively, as a new match field, it is proposed to report / notify the SN to the controller in all subsequent packets.

That is, as already mentioned above, the source eNB-C may request to transmit only the first packet or all packets from the user plane to the control plane via some artificial "packet" message.

That is, the SeNB-C needs to acquire the idea of a sequence number, which can be transmitted to the OFC + / eNB-C by explicit reporting of only the corresponding sequence number (e.g., a parameter) Which can be accomplished through a message, which is an artificial packet that communicates. The S eNB-C can search in the "packet-in-message" only for the sequence number, extract it and send it to the T eNB-C via GTP-C, while the rest of the packet- eNB-C.

Thus, in particular, it is thus not required for the controller to redirect any tuned packet towards the new destination itself.

However, since the controller has already received all (first or all) packets and the controller is already involved in the procedure, the controller sends a "packet out" message Quot; message or to send buffered packets).

In this regard, it will be appreciated that the "in packet" message is a message within the open flow that normally reports receipt of (unknown) packets that do not have a rule / command on how the user plane will operate on such (payload) do. In this particular case, the user plane may send an entire (or even more) packet (or even more) to the controller and additionally buffer such packets and any subsequent packets, for example, via an outgoing port to a particular destination Additional commands from the controller, such as to send buffered packets or discard them, or whatever the controller may need.

In the foregoing, certain embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with respect to an open flow protocol. In the following, a more general description of specific embodiments of the present invention is made with reference to Figures 7-9.

Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method may be implemented in a first entity of a first plane, and in step S71, a first entity of a first plane assigns a parameter to a first entity of a first plane Requesting the first entity of the second plane to report, in step S72, receiving the reported parameter in the first entity of the first plane, and in step S73, by the first entity of the first plane, To the second entity of the first plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method further comprises requesting all packets to be sent to a controller located between a first entity of the first plane and a first entity of the second plane.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of, by a first entity of a first plane, transmitting data packets sourced from the terminal to a second entity of a second plane, Command.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of switching, by the first entity of the first plane, from transmitting data packets directly to the terminal to transmitting data packets via the second entity of the second plane And instructing the first entity of the second plane.

Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating another example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method may be implemented in a first entity of a second plane, and in step S81, receiving a request to report a parameter at a first entity of the second plane, and In step S82, forwarding the parameter to the first entity of the first plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method comprises receiving at a first entity of a second plane an instruction to redirect data packets from the terminal to a second entity of a second plane, Transmitting uplink packets to the second entity and the network element of the second plane at the same time and assigning parameters to the data packets transmitted to the second entity of the second plane.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method includes stopping transmitting uplink data packets to a network element after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, stopping transmitting data packets to a second entity of a second plane And stopping assigning the parameters.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method further comprises, by a first entity of the second plane, a first parameter not transmitted to the network element and not inserted in a data packet transmitted to the second entity of the second plane And reporting to the first entity of the first plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method comprises: a controller located between a first entity of a first plane and a first entity of a second plane, wherein a first entity of the second plane transmits all packets .

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method further comprises receiving a command from a first entity of the first plane to switch from transmitting data packets directly to the terminal to transmitting a data packet through a second entity of the second plane, At the first entity of the second plane, sending downlink data packets simultaneously to the terminal and the second entity of the second plane for a predetermined time period, and transmitting data to the second entity of the second plane Further comprising assigning parameters to the packets.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method includes stopping sending downlink data packets to a terminal after a certain period of time has elapsed, adding parameters to data packets transmitted to a second entity of the second plane To < / RTI >

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, the method further comprises the step of, by the first entity of the second plane, assigning a first parameter that is not inserted in the data packet that has not been transmitted to the terminal and is transmitted to the second entity of the second plane Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 1 < / RTI >

9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

In Fig. 9, a block circuit diagram illustrating the configuration of an apparatus 90 configured to implement the above-described aspects of the present invention is shown. The device 90 shown in FIG. 9 may include some additional elements or functions besides those described herein below, which are not required for an understanding of the present invention and are therefore omitted herein for the sake of simplicity. Things will be watched. Furthermore, the device may also be other devices having similar functions, such as chipsets, chips, modules, etc., which may also be part of the device or attached as a separate element to the device.

The device 90 may include a processing function or processor 91, e.g., a CPU, which executes instructions given by a program or the like related to a flow control mechanism. The processor 91 may include one or more processing portions dedicated to particular processing as described below, or the processing may be performed on a single processor. Portions for performing this particular processing may also be provided as individual elements or in one or more additional processors or processing portions, e.g., one physical processor, such as a CPU, or some physical entities. Reference numeral 92 denotes input / output (I / O) units (interfaces) or transceivers connected to the processor 91. I / O units 92 may be used to communicate with one or more other network elements, entities, terminals, and the like. I / O units 92 may be an associative unit that includes communications equipment toward some network elements, or may include a distributed architecture with a plurality of different interfaces for different network elements. Reference numeral 93 denotes a memory, for example, for storing data and programs to be executed by the processor 91 and / or usable as a working storage of the processor 91.

The processor 91 is configured to execute processing associated with the above aspects. In particular, the device 90 may be part of the first entity of the first plane, or may be implemented in the first entity, and configured to perform the method described with respect to FIG. Thus, the processor 91 may be configured to request the first entity of the second plane to report the parameter to the first entity of the first plane by a first entity of the first plane, And to forward the parameters to the second entity of the first plane by receiving from the first entity and by the first entity of the first plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the device 90 may be part of or may be implemented in a first entity of the second plane, and may be configured to perform the method described with respect to FIG. 8 have. The processor 91 is then configured to receive a request to report the parameter at the first entity of the second plane and to forward the parameter to the first entity of the first plane.

Thus, according to exemplary versions of the present invention, two devices 90 are provided, one for the first entity of the first plane, one for the first entity of the second plane, Each having a structure as illustrated in FIG.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane are connected to a common entity, which includes the functions of the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane, .

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity is the source entity that initiates the handover, and the second entity is the target entity on which the handover is performed.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the parameter is a count value.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the entity is a base station.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first plane is a control / management plane and the second plane is a user plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the network element is a network element having a gateway function and the terminal is a user equipment, server, application or gateway.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, data packets to the user equipment are transmitted in accordance with the packet data convergence protocol and data packets to the gateway or base station are transmitted in accordance with the GTP user data tunneling protocol.

target eNB

Now, the behavior in the target eNB will be described in accordance with specific embodiments of the present invention.

Generally, on the target eNB side, it is proposed that the target eNB-C should transmit DL and UL count values to the eNB-U. The eNB-U shall store these and shall use these values in DL and UL bearers.

2, upon receipt of the X2 SN state delivery message, the target eNB-C 64 retrieves the UL / DL count values and sends them together with an open flow message "Mod-Flow" of new proprietary parameters, And transmits it to the eNB-U (66) via OFC + 65.

Upon receipt of the open flow message "Mod-Flow" with new proprietary parameters (UL / DL count value with corresponding PDCP SN) in the target eNB-U 66, the eNB- .

In the case of the downlink, for each bearer where the DL count value is received in the open flow message " Flow_Mod ", the target eNB-U 66 sends it (in GTP-U), together with the value contained in the new exclusive parameter, Will be used to mark the first downlink packet for which there is no PDCP SN yet assigned. For any subsequent packets, the PDCP SN is increased.

In the case of the uplink, for each bearer in which the UL count value is received in the open flow message "Flow_Mod ", the target eNB-U 66 may receive an arbitrary number of PDCP SNs with a PDCP SN lower than the value contained in the PDCP- (To the SGW).

This important use case is support for intra E-UTRAN handover, but the same solution can also be applied to S1 based handover well.

The same principles can generally be applied to future RAN elements, such as LTE-A and 5G, as well as any other RAN elements such as BTS etc. already known in the past.

Alternatively, for both the uplink and downlink in both the target eNB-C 64 and the eNB-C 66, the eNB-U 66 may request the eNB-C (64) The OFC + 65 may check the count value and forward the unchanged packet to the eNB-U (64) via an open flow "packet out " 66) or discard the packet.

However, this alternative solution will affect the open flow control channel and open flow controller and control plane.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The packet flow in the downlink and uplink in the user plane prior to handover is the same as that already described above in connection with the source eNB. Accordingly, reference is made to Figs. 3 and 4 and to the individual description thereof in this regard.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the case of the downlink, before the handover, the source eNB is forwarding PDCP packets only to the UE via the LTE-Uu interface.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of the uplink, before the handover, the source eNB is forwarding GTP packets only to the SGW.

Due to the SN state delivery or the reception of the MME state, a handover is initiated at the target eNB-C.

5 shows an example of the packet flow of the uplink during handover.

With respect to the target eNB-C / OFC +, upon receiving the "SN status transfer" or "MME status transfer" message, the target eNB-C / OFC + sends an open flow message "AddFlow" Report / notify the number. Then, in the target eNB-U, a new open flow is required to compare the procedure and the new operation.

A new match field with new " comparison performance " may compare the content of PDCP SNs of the GTP-U extended "PDCP PDU number " with the SN number received via the open flow.

If the GTP-U number is greater than or equal to the SN number received over the open flow, the packets are forwarded to the SGW. Otherwise, the packets are not transmitted to the SGW.

As a new match field, it is proposed to report / notify any subsequent packets to the controller so that the controller can discard the packets on their own or forward them to a separate destination, for example, with a packet out message.

According to the current specification, open-flow operations are only triggered in the case of simple matching, i.e. when the GTP-U number matches the SN number.

Therefore, a new matching procedure / new comparison rule is proposed. A new matching procedure is to compare the GTP-U number with the SN number, indicate whether the GTP-U number is smaller or larger than the SN number, ≪ / RTI > equal to or less than or equal to or greater than the SN number.

In addition, based on the results of the above-described new comparison rules, some new operations, so-called ignore or operation / transmission are proposed.

For example, as described above, if the GTP-U number is equal to or greater than the SN number received over the open flow, the packets are forwarded to the SGW. Otherwise, if the GTP-U number is less than the SN number received via open flow, then the packets are ignored, i.e. not sent to the SGW.

5 shows the case for the uplink, where the target eNB forwards the PDCP PDU (having length and content) from the GTP-U towards the SGW.

6 shows an example of packet flow on the downlink during handover.

With respect to the target eNB-U, upon receipt of the "SN status transfer" or "MME status transfer" message, the target eNB-C / OFC + sends the SN number to the target eNB-U as an open flow message "AddFlow" Report / notify. Then, in the target eNB-U, a new open flow is required to compare the procedure and the new operation.

A new match field with new " comparison performance " may compare the content of PDCP SNs of the GTP-U extended "PDCP PDU number " with the SN number received via the open flow.

If the GTP-U number is equal to or greater than the SN number received via the open flow, the packets are forwarded to the UE. Otherwise, the packets are not transmitted to the UE.

According to the current specification, as described above, the open flow operations are only triggered in the case of simple matching, i.e. when the GTP-U number matches the SN number.

Therefore, a new matching procedure / new comparison rule is proposed. A new matching procedure is to compare the GTP-U number with the SN number, indicate whether the GTP-U number is smaller or larger than the SN number, ≪ / RTI > equal to or less than or equal to or greater than the SN number.

In addition, based on the results of the above-described new comparison rules, some new operations, so-called ignore and operation / transmission are proposed.

For example, as described above, the target eNB-U ignores PDCP packets with an SN number lower than the SN number as received via the open flow, based on the above comparison rules.

Moreover, the target eNB-U sends PDCP packets with SN numbers that are not less than the SN numbers received via the open flow to the UE based on the above comparison rules (and, with each PDCP packet, Increase the SN number).

Thus, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, on the downlink, the target eNB pushes the PDCP PDU (from GTP-U) towards the PDCP packet towards the UE.

In the foregoing, certain embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with respect to an open flow protocol. In the following, a more general description of specific embodiments of the present invention is made with reference to Figures 10-12.

10 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method may be implemented in a second entity of the first plane, and in step S101, receiving a message containing a parameter in a second entity of the first plane, step S102 , Retrieving the parameters from the received message, and forwarding the retrieved parameters to the second entity of the second plane in step S103.

11 is a flow chart illustrating another example of a method according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method may also be implemented in a second entity of the second plane, and in step S111, receiving a message containing the parameter at a second entity of the second plane, and In step S112, storing the parameter includes.

According to exemplary versions of the present invention, a method comprises receiving a data packet to which a parameter is assigned from a first entity of a second plane at a second entity of a second plane, ≪ / RTI >

 According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method further comprises forwarding the parameterized data packet to the network element, if it is determined that the parameter assigned to the data packet is equal to or greater than the stored parameter.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method further comprises forwarding the parameterized data packet to the terminal if it is determined that the parameter assigned to the data packet is equal to or greater than the stored parameter.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the method further comprises ignoring the data packet to which the parameter is assigned if it is determined that the parameter assigned to the data packet is less than or equal to the stored parameter.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane are connected to a common entity, which includes the functions of the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane, .

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity is the source entity that initiates the handover, and the second entity is the target entity on which the handover is performed.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the entity is a base station.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first plane is a control / management plane and the second plane is a user plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the network element is a network element having a gateway function and the terminal is a user equipment, server, application or gateway.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the parameter is a count value.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, data packets to the user equipment are transmitted in accordance with the packet data convergence protocol and data packets to the gateway or base station are transmitted in accordance with the GTP user data tunneling protocol.

12 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus according to exemplary versions of the present invention.

In Fig. 12, a block circuit diagram showing the configuration of the apparatus 120 is shown, which is configured to implement the aspects described above of the present invention. It should be noted that the device 120 shown in FIG. 12 may include some additional elements or functions in addition to those described herein below, and these are omitted herein for the sake of simplicity, It will be watched. Moreover, the device may also be another device having similar functionality, such as a chipset, chip, module, etc., which may also be a part of the device or attached as a separate element to the device.

The device 120 may include a processing function or processor 121 for executing instructions provided by, for example, a program related to a flow control mechanism, such as a CPU. The processor 121 may include one or more processing portions dedicated to particular processing as described below, or the processing may be performed on a single processor. Portions for performing this particular processing may also be provided as individual elements or in one or more additional processors or processing portions, e.g., one physical processor, such as a CPU, or some physical entities. Reference numeral 122 denotes a transceiver or input / output (I / O) units (interfaces) connected to the processor 121. I / O units 122 may be used to communicate with one or more other network elements, entities, terminals, I / O units 122 may be an associative unit that includes communications equipment towards some network elements, or may include a distributed architecture with a plurality of different interfaces to different network elements. Reference numeral 123 denotes a memory usable for storing data and programs to be executed by, for example, the processor 121 and / or usable as a working storage of the processor 121. [

The processor 121 is configured to execute processing related to the aspects described above. In particular, the device 120 may be implemented in or be part of a second entity of the first plane, and may be configured to perform the method as described in connection with Fig. Thus, the processor 121 may be configured to receive, at the second entity of the first plane, a message containing the parameters, retrieve the parameters from the received message, and retrieve the retrieved parameters to the second entity of the second plane Forwarding < / RTI >

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the device 120 may be implemented in a second entity of the second plane or a portion thereof, and may be configured to perform a method as described in connection with FIG. Thus, the processor 121 is further configured to perform receiving a message containing parameters and storing parameters in a second entity of the second plane.

Thus, according to exemplary versions of the present invention, two devices 120 are provided, one for the second entity of the first plane, one for the second entity of the second plane, Each having a structure as illustrated in FIG.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane are connected to a common entity, which includes the functions of the first entity of the first plane and the second entity of the first plane, .

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first entity is the source entity that initiates the handover, and the second entity is the target entity on which the handover is performed.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the parameter is a count value.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the entity is a base station.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the first plane is a control / management plane and the second plane is a user plane.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, the network element is a network element having a gateway function and the terminal is a user equipment, server, application or gateway.

According to exemplary versions of the invention, data packets to the user equipment are transmitted in accordance with the packet data convergence protocol and data packets to the gateway or base station are transmitted in accordance with the GTP user data tunneling protocol.

In the foregoing, certain embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to open flows. It should be noted, however, that the open flows are exemplary only and that the present invention is not limited to open flows and that certain embodiments of the present invention may be applied to any other suitable communication protocol such as Forces, SNMP, NFV, NetConf, do.

It is further noted that the present invention is also applicable to, for example, 5G, such as networks that are further developed. In such a case, a so-called HeNB GW is introduced, which is a new function that implicitly includes the functions of eNB and MME and SGW.

Moreover, the source and target control of the HeNB (Home eNB) (as well as regular eNBs of course) is likely to be centralized, perhaps because it will be particularly advantageous in small cell environments, where a centralized OFC (OpenFlow controller) Or it may be connected to what is referred to as the HeNB GW (Home eNB Gateway) in 3GPP. Thus, the HeNB GW may reside at the top of the centralized OFC + controlling source and / or target HeNBs served by user planes (and may also be further local user plane).

As a further possibility, not only eNB but also HeNB and HeNB GW (Home eNB Gateway) (TS36300 "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 25467 " UTRAN architecture for 3G Home Node B (HNB) "). Similar to a normal eNB, the HeNB / HNB can be isolated and controlled via open flow / SDN / OFC +. This is because existing small cells such as Nokia Solutions and Networks Flexi Lite BTS implement the entire 3GPP (control plane) stack type (X2 control plane and GTP-C control plane stack) only because the user plane can be deployed only when appropriate. .

In particular, the small cells HeNB generally behave like an eNB, as already described in this connection, but they operate as EPC (MME / SGW) towards HeNB and at the same time as HeNB as an arbiter acting as eNB towards EPC (MME / EPC) GW can also apply the present invention based on, for example, SDN principles. Also, for example, the central HeNB GW may report the count / sequence number to the source and / or target HeNB or eNB user part or compare them to the sequence number received via GTP-U (instead of relying on the X2 interface "SN delivery" . In addition, depending on the capabilities of the HeNB (which may be signaled to or configured in the HeNB GW), the HeNB GW control plane may decide to map it from the open flow to X2 or S1, and vice versa.

The particular embodiments described above of the present invention are particularly advantageous in that they do not place a burden on the controller with additional traffic and computation requirements. Thus, the present invention in accordance with certain embodiments can be readily implemented.

In the above exemplary description of devices, only units and / or means relating to understanding the principles of the invention have been described using functional blocks. The devices may each include additional units / means necessary for its individual operation as network elements, similar base stations, and the like. However, the description of these units / means is omitted here. The arrangement of the functional blocks of the apparatus should not be construed as limiting the invention, and the functions may be performed by one block or further divided into sub-blocks.

When referred to in the description above, when a device (or some other means) is said to be configured to perform some function, it may be a processor that potentially cooperates with (i.e., at least one) It should be interpreted that the circuit is configured to allow the device to perform at least the functions referred to above. It should also be understood that such a function is equally feasible by means of a circuit or means specifically configured to perform the individual function (i. E., The expression "a unit configured to" Is interpreted.

For the present invention as described hereinabove,

- method steps that are likely to be implemented as software code portions and that are being executed using the processor in the device (thus, as an example of its devices, devices and / or modules, or its devices and / As examples of containing entities) are software code independent and can be defined using any known or later developed programming language as long as the functions defined by the method steps are preserved;

- in general, that any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or hardware without modification thereof in terms of changes in the ideas of the aspects / embodiments and the functionality implemented;

 The possibility of being implemented as hardware components in the devices defined above or any module (s) thereof (e.g., devices executing the functions of the devices according to the aspects / embodiments described above) The method steps and / or devices, units or means are hardware independent and may be implemented in a computer system, such as, for example, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) components, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) Such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), CMOS (Complementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), or any of the known or later developed hardware technologies using these components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) , BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS), Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL), Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL), and the like;

 - Devices, units or means (e.g., the devices defined above, or any one of their individual units / means) may be implemented as discrete devices, units or means, Or as long as the functions of the means are preserved, they do not exclude that they are implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system;

The device may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module containing such a chip or chipset, but it is not intended that the functionality of the device or module be implemented in hardware, Does not preclude the possibility of being implemented as software in (software) modules, such as computer programs or computer program objects, including portions of the software code;

It should be noted that, for example, they may functionally cooperate with one another or may be functionally independent from one another but within the same device housing, the device may be regarded as one device or may be regarded as an assembly of more than one device.

In general, individual functional blocks or elements in accordance with the aspects described above may be implemented by any known means, either hardware and / or software, if it is only adapted to perform the described functions of the individual portions It will be appreciated that it can be implemented. The mentioned method steps may be realized in individual functional blocks or by individual devices, or one or more of the method steps may be realized in a single functional block or by a single device.

In general, any method steps may be appropriate to be implemented as software or hardware without altering the idea of the present invention. The devices and means may be implemented as discrete devices, but this does not preclude that they are implemented in distributed form throughout the systems as long as the functionality of the device is preserved. Such and similar principles should be considered as known to those skilled in the art.

Software in the sense of the present description may be embodied in the form of a computer code or portions for storing individual data structures and / or code means / portions as well as code means or portions for performing individual functions or software codes including computer programs or computer program objects (Or computer program or computer program product) contained in or tangibly embodied in a tangible medium, such as a readable (storage) medium, or potentially included in or on a signal during its processing.

It will be appreciated that the aspects / embodiments and general and specific examples described above are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended in any way to limit the invention to that. Rather, all variations and modifications that come within the scope of the appended claims are intended to be covered.

List of acronyms:

BTS Base transceiver station

CP Control plane

C-RNTI Cell RNTI

DL Downlink

eNB This bulb node B

eNB-U eNB user plane

eNB-C eNB control plane

EPC This bulbed packet core

E-UTRAN This bulb de universal ground RAN

Forces Forwarding and control element separation

HO Handover

LTE-A LTE Advanced

OF Open flow

PDCP Packet data convergence protocol

PDU Protocol data unit

RACH Random access channel

RAN Radio access network

RNTI Radio network temporary identifier

RRC Radio Resource Control

SDU Service data unit

SDN Software defined networking

S eNB Source eNB

SGW Signaling gateway

SN Sequence number

T eNB Target eNB

TNL Transport network layer

UL Uplink

UP User plane

Claims (55)

As a method,
Requesting, by a first entity of a first plane, a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of the first plane;
Receiving, at a first entity of the first plane, a reported parameter; And
Forwarding a parameter to a second entity of the first plane by a first entity of the first plane. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising: requesting all packets to be sent to a controller located between a first entity of the first plane and a first entity of the second plane. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising instructing the first entity of the second plane to redirect sourced data packets from the terminal to a second entity of the second plane by a first entity of the first plane, Way. The method according to claim 1,
To the first entity of the second plane to switch the data packets from being transmitted directly to the terminal by the first entity of the first plane to transmitting the data packets through the second entity of the second plane, ≪ / RTI > As a method,
Receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And
And forwarding the parameter to a first entity of a first plane. 6. The method of claim 5,
Receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, an instruction to redirect data packets from the terminal to a second entity of a second plane;
Simultaneously transmitting uplink packets towards a network element and a second entity of the second plane for a predetermined time period; And
Further comprising assigning parameters to data packets transmitted to a second entity of the second plane. The method according to claim 6,
Stopping transmitting the uplink data packets to the network element after the predetermined time period has elapsed, and stopping assigning the parameters to the data packets transmitted to the second entity of the second plane How to. 8. The method of claim 7,
Reporting a first parameter to a first entity of the first plane by a first entity of the second plane that is not inserted in a data packet that has not been transmitted to the network element and has been transmitted to a second entity of the second plane ≪ / RTI > 8. The method of claim 7,
Sending all packets to a controller located between a first entity of the first plane and a first entity of the second plane by a first entity of the second plane. 6. The method of claim 5,
From the first entity of the first plane to the first entity of the second plane to switch the data packets from transmitting directly to the terminal to transmitting through the second entity of the second plane, Receiving;
Simultaneously transmitting downlink data packets to the second entity of the second plane and the terminal for a predetermined time period; And
Further comprising assigning parameters to data packets transmitted to a second entity of the second plane. 11. The method of claim 10,
Stopping sending the downlink data packets to the terminal after a specified time period has elapsed, and stopping assigning parameters to data packets to be transmitted to the second entity of the second plane. Way. 12. The method of claim 11,
Reporting by the first entity of the second plane to a first entity of the first plane a first parameter not transmitted to the terminal and not inserted in a data packet transmitted to a second entity of the second plane; ≪ / RTI > As a method,
Receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message including a parameter;
Retrieving the parameter from the received message; And
And forwarding the retrieved parameter to a second entity of the second plane. As a method,
Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And
And storing the parameter. 15. The method of claim 14,
Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a data packet to which a parameter is assigned, from a first entity of the second plane; And
And comparing the stored parameter to a parameter assigned to the received data packet. 16. The method of claim 15,
If the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or greater than the stored parameter, forwarding the parameterized data packet to the network element. 16. The method of claim 15,
If the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or greater than the stored parameter, forwarding the parameterized data packet to the terminal. 18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17,
If the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or less than the stored parameter, ignoring the data packet to which the parameter is assigned. 19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18,
Wherein a first entity of the first plane and a second entity of the first plane are co-located with a common entity comprising a function of a first entity of the first plane and a second entity of the first plane . 20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19,
Wherein the first entity is a source entity that initiates a handover, the second entity is a target entity on which the handover is performed, and / or the parameter is a count value. 21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20,
Wherein the entity is a base station. 22. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 21,
Wherein the first plane is a control / management plane and the second plane is a user plane. 23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22,
Wherein the network element is a network element having a gateway function and the terminal is a user equipment, server, application or gateway. 24. The method of claim 23,
Wherein data packets to the user equipment are transmitted according to a packet data convergence protocol and data packets to the gateway or base station are transmitted according to a GTP user data tunneling protocol. As an apparatus,
At least one processor; And
And at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,
Wherein the at least one memory and the instructions cause the device to, via the at least one processor,
Requesting, at a first entity of a first plane, a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of the first plane;
Receiving, at a first entity of the first plane, a reported parameter; And
And to forward parameters to a second entity of the first plane by a first entity of the first plane. 26. The method of claim 25,
Further comprising requesting all packets to be sent to a controller located between a first entity of the first plane and a first entity of the second plane. 26. The method of claim 25,
Further comprising, in a first entity of the first plane, instructing a first entity of the second plane to redirect sourced data packets from the terminal to a second entity of the second plane. 26. The method of claim 25,
Instructing the first entity of the second plane to switch data packets from the first entity of the first plane to the data packet directly to the terminal and to transmit the data packets through the second entity of the second plane / RTI > As an apparatus,
At least one processor; And
And at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,
Wherein the at least one memory and the instructions cause the device to, via the at least one processor,
Receiving, at the first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And
And to forward the parameter to the first entity of the first plane. 30. The method of claim 29,
Receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, an instruction to redirect data packets from the terminal to a second entity of a second plane;
Simultaneously transmitting uplink packets towards a network element and a second entity of the second plane for a predetermined time period; And
Further comprising: assigning parameters to data packets to be transmitted to a second entity of the second plane. 31. The method of claim 30,
Stopping sending the uplink data packets to the network element after the predetermined time period has elapsed, and stopping assigning parameters to the data packets transmitted to the second entity of the second plane , Device. 32. The method of claim 31,
Reporting at the first entity of the second plane a first parameter not being transmitted to the network element and not inserted in a data packet sent to the second entity of the second plane to the first entity of the first plane ≪ / RTI > 32. The method of claim 31,
Further comprising: in the first entity of the second plane, sending all packets to a controller located between a first entity of the first plane and a first entity of the second plane. 30. The method of claim 29,
From the first entity of the first plane to the first entity of the second plane to switch the data packets from transmitting directly to the terminal to transmitting through the second entity of the second plane, Receiving;
Simultaneously transmitting downlink data packets to the second entity of the second plane and the terminal for a predetermined time period; And
Further comprising: assigning parameters to data packets to be transmitted to a second entity of the second plane. 35. The method of claim 34,
Stopping sending the downlink data packets to the terminal after a specified time period has elapsed, and stopping assigning parameters to data packets to be transmitted to the second entity of the second plane. . 35. The method of claim 34,
Reporting to the first entity of the first plane a first parameter that has not been transmitted to the terminal and has not been inserted into a data packet sent to the second entity of the second plane at the first entity of the second plane Comprising: As an apparatus,
At least one processor; And
And at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,
Wherein the at least one memory and the instructions cause the device to, via the at least one processor,
Receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message comprising a parameter;
Retrieving the parameter from the received message; And
And to forward the retrieved parameter to a second entity of the second plane. As an apparatus,
At least one processor; And
And at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor,
Wherein the at least one memory and the instructions cause the device to, via the at least one processor,
Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And
And to store the parameter. 39. The method of claim 38,
Receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a data packet to which a parameter is assigned from a first entity of the second plane; And
And comparing the stored parameter to the parameter assigned to the received data packet. 40. The method of claim 39,
If the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or greater than the stored parameter, forwarding the parameterized data packet to the network element. 40. The method of claim 39,
And if the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or greater than the stored parameter, forwarding the parameterized data packet to the terminal. 42. The method according to any one of claims 39 to 41,
And if the parameter assigned to the data packet is determined to be equal to or less than the stored parameter, then ignoring the data packet to which the parameter is assigned. 43. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 42,
Wherein a first entity of the first plane and a second entity of the first plane are co-located with a common entity comprising a function of a first entity of the first plane and a second entity of the first plane. . 45. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 43,
Wherein the first entity is a source entity that initiates a handover, the second entity is a target entity on which the handover is performed, and / or the parameter is a count value. 45. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 44,
Wherein the entity is a base station. The method according to any one of claims 25 to 45,
Wherein the first plane is a control / management plane and the second plane is a user plane. 46. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 46,
Wherein the network element is a network element having a gateway function, and wherein the terminal is a user equipment, a server, an application or a gateway. 49. The method of claim 47,
Wherein data packets to the user equipment are transmitted according to a packet data convergence protocol and data packets to the gateway or base station are transmitted according to a GTP user data tunneling protocol. A computer program product comprising a program for a processing device,
24. A computer program product comprising software code portions for performing the steps of any one of claims 1 to 24 when the program is executed on the processing device. 50. The method of claim 49,
Wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable medium on which the software code portions are stored. 50. The method of claim 49,
The program being loadable directly into the internal memory of the processing device. As an apparatus,
Means for requesting, at a first entity of a first plane, a first entity of a second plane to report a parameter to a first entity of a first plane;
Means for receiving, at a first entity of the first plane, a reported parameter; And
Means for forwarding a parameter by a first entity of the first plane to a second entity of the first plane. As an apparatus,
Means for receiving, at a first entity of the second plane, a request to report a parameter; And
And means for forwarding the parameter to a first entity of a first plane. As an apparatus,
Means for receiving, at a second entity of the first plane, a message comprising a parameter;
Means for retrieving the parameter from the received message; And
And means for forwarding the retrieved parameter to a second entity of the second plane. As an apparatus,
Means for receiving, at a second entity of the second plane, a message comprising a parameter; And
And means for storing the parameter.

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